Family baffled by ‘senseless’ death of Luke Air Force Base airman

Cody Fryhover, an airman at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix, was shot and killed early Sunday morning when he allegedly tried to break into an apartment. (Via Facebook)

The family of the 21-year-old Luke Air Force Base airman who was fatally shot Sunday morning is perplexed by the events surrounding the airman’s death.

According to authorities, Cody Fryhover was shot after allegedly trying to dismantle the patio door of an apartment and kicking the glass, the Associated Press reported Sunday. The resident of the apartment told authorities he pulled out his handgun after he was awoken by the commotion and shot him in self-defense.

Fryhover was taken to the hospital after he was shot and later was pronounced dead. But his family has questions.

“This is so far out there in left field, it’s a strange tale of why he was there, how did he get there,” Fryhover’s uncle Kevin McDaniel told NBC affiliate 12 News.

McDaniel said Cody had a “good head on his shoulders” and had never been in trouble with the law. In fact, he is the son of a law enforcement officer.

“If Cody had been a different human being than what he is, we could understand him doing something stupid like this,” McDaniel said. “The whole thing is senseless. Cody being there is senseless, We don’t know why yet, We don’t have answers, we are at a loss.”

Fryhover, who described himself as a native of Leesburg, Fla., on his Facebook page, also spent some of his high school years in Kingsley, Mich. Information about his rank and unit assignment were not immediately available from officials at Luke AFB.

The TV station reported Fryhover had just returned from a trip to Mexico with his new wife Saturday and decided to go out that evening. But at some point Fryhover was separated from his Air Force friends and wound up at the apartment.

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“It sounds like he was either he was too intoxicated, thought he was maybe home, thought someone was chasing him, I don’t even know,” McDaniel said.

McDaniel, who described Fryhover as a “go-getter,” said the family is confused why Fryhover was shot, since the family claimed he was still outside at the time of the altercation.

"The only thought going to the family’s head is he’s outside, just don’t do that," McDaniel said.

Arizona is among the more than 20 states that have adopted so-called “Stand Your Ground” laws, which claims an individual is justified using physical force against another “when and to the extent a reasonable person would believe that physical force is immediately necessary to protect himself against the other's use or attempted use of unlawful physical force."

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